866 



EMIGRATION. 



EMIGRATION. 



S06 



Law Board in all orders sanctioning the emigration of poor persons, of 

 which the most material is, that the party emigrating shall go to 

 some British colony not lying within the tropics ; and the guardians 

 are empowered to expend certain specified sums in the conveyance o 

 the emigrant to the port of embarkation, and on the outfit, including 

 bed, bedding, and clothing. 



Under the Irish Poor Law Act, money may be raised for enabling 

 poor persons to emigrate to British colonies ; but the money so raisec 

 must not exceed one shilling in the pound on the net annual value o: 

 rateable property. 



The Bounty System derives its name from the mode in which the 

 proceeds of land-sales are applied in obtaining immigrants. In this 

 case persons who introduce persons into the colony receive so much 

 per head according to the terms of agreement. The contractors engage 

 to find persons willing to emigrate, and undertake to land them in the 

 colony. This system is in force only in some of the Australian 

 colonies. In New South Wales 51,736 persons were introduced from 

 1831 to 1842 under bounties. 



The mode in which unoccupied land ia disposed of in the colonies 

 has a most important influence on the condition and welfare o] 

 immigrants. By the application of a general principle of law, the 

 waste lands in the British colonies were considered to be vested in the 

 Crown, and that every private title must rest upon a royal grant as its 

 basis. But since 1831 another principle has been acknowledged and 

 observed : that the crown holds the lands in question for the pur- 

 poses of the public good, not merely for the existing colonists, but for 

 the people of the Britsh empire collectively. It must be appropriated 

 to the public uses and for the public benefit. The Land Sale Act for 

 the Australian Colonies (5 & 6 Viet. c. 36) prohibits land being 

 alienated by her Majesty, or by any one acting under her authority, 

 except by sale, and in the manner directed by the act. 



Down to the year 1831 no regular or uniform system of selling land 

 appears to have ,been adopted in the British colonies. In place 

 of such system, conditions were attached to the occupation of land 

 under the name of quit-rents, money payments, or the cultivation of 

 the soil; but these conditions were not effectually enforced, and in 

 fact it was generally found impossible to enforce them. Land was 

 profusely granted to individuals in large tracts, and as cultivation was 

 not enforced, and no roads were made through these tracts, they inter- 

 rupted the course of improvement. Under the old system, lands in 

 the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, amounting to upwards of 

 thirty-one million acres, have been disposed of for less than 46,000t In 

 Prince Edward's Island the whole of the land was granted in one day to 

 absentee proprietors upon terms which have never been fulfilled. The 

 influence of these proprietors with the Home Government prevented 

 such measures being adopted as were calculated to enforce the settle- 

 ment of the grants, and consequently the greater part of them 

 remained chiefly in a wild state. (' Report of Mr. C. Buller, M.P., to 

 the Earl of Durham, on Public Lands in British North America,' 1838.) 

 This report contains an account of the system of granting lands in 

 each of the provinces of British North America ; and in all of them it 

 appears to have been injurious to the public interests. 



In January, 1840, commissioners were appointed under the royal 

 sign manual to act as a Land and Emigration Board. The sale of the 

 waste lands of the Crown throughout the British colonies was 

 regulated by the commissioners, and they applied the proceeds of such 

 sales towards the removal thither of emigrants from this country, when 

 the land-fund was appropriated to this object. This board was a sub- 



ordinate department of the Colonial Office. . But the disposal of the 

 waste lands is now, by various acts of the imperial and provincial 

 parliaments, vested in the local governments. The regulations vary 

 considerably in their details, but we give a summary of the conditions 

 and prices of the waste lands in the North American, Australian, and 

 Cape of Good Hope Colonies. 



In Canada there are detached Clergy Reserves for sale in most of 

 the townships surveyed prior to 1841. These reserves are now 

 vested in the Colonial Government by the 16 Viet. c. 21 (1853), 

 subject to the rights of the clergy. They are now thrown open for 

 public sale. The lands reported by the chief agent for emigration at 

 Quebec to be most worthy the attention of emigrants, are the town- 

 ships Peel, Wellesley, Maryborough, and Morningtou, covering an area 

 of 250,000 acres, in the county of Waterloo. The prices of land in 

 these townships (as of all clergy reserves), are regulated by the quality 

 of soil and situation, and average from 8s. to 20s. currency per acre, 

 one-tenth of the purchase-money being required at the time of 

 sale, and the remainder to be paid in nine annual instalments, 

 with interest. One million acres of land were also appropriated 

 for school purposes by the legislature in 1849, and the school 

 lands in the counties of Bruce, Grey, and Huron, are now open 

 for sale to actual settlers upon the following terms : The price 

 to be 10*. per acre, payable in ten equal annual instalments, with 

 interest. The first instalment to be paid upon receiving authority 

 to enter upon the land. Actual occupation to be immediate and 

 continuous. The land to be cleared at the rate of 5 acres annually 

 for every 100 acres during the first five years. A dwelling-house at 

 least 18 feet by 26 to be erected. The timber to be reserved until the 

 land has been paid for in full and patented, and to be subject to any 

 general timber duty thereafter. A licence of occupation, not assign- 

 able without permission, to be granted. The sale and the licence of 

 occupation to become null and void in case of neglect or violation of 

 any of the conditions. The settler to be entitled to obtain a patent 

 upon complying with all the conditions. Not more than 200 acres to 

 be sold to any one person on these terms. 



In Canada West, the provincial government have opened three great 

 lines of road, and laid out for settlement the lands through which they 

 pass. They are styled 1st, The Ottawa and Opeougo Road, which 

 runs east and west ; it will eventually be 171 miles in length, and con- 

 nect the Ottawa River with Lake Huron. 2nd, The Addington Road, 

 which runs north and south, is 60 miles long, and starts from the 

 settlements in the county of Addington until it intersects the Opeongo 

 Road. 3rd, the Hastings Road, which runs nearly parallel to the 

 Addington Road, is 74 miles long, and connects the county of Hastings 

 with the Ottawa and Opeongo Road. In order to facilitate the settle- 

 ment of this part of Canada, and to provide for keeping the roads in 

 repair, the provincial government have authorised free grants of land 

 along these three roads, not to exceed in each case 100 acres, upon the 

 following conditions : That the settler be eighteen years of age. That 

 he take possession of the land allotted to him within one month, and 

 put in a state of cultivation at least twelve acres of the land in the 

 course of four years ; build a house, at least 20 by 18 feet ; and reside 

 on the lot until the conditions of settlement are duly performed. 

 Families comprising several settlers entitled to lauds, preferring to 

 reside on a single lot, will be exempted from the obligation of building 

 and of residence (except upon the lot on which they live), provided 

 that the required clearing of the land be made on each lot. No title 

 is given to the settler until after these conditions have been performed, 

 and the non-performance of them entails the immediate loss of the 

 assigned lot of land, which will be sold or given to another. 



The road having been opened by the government, the settlers are 

 required to keep it in repair. The log-house required by the govern- 

 ment to be built is of such a description as can be put up in four days 

 by five men. The neighbours generally help to build the log-cabin for 

 newly-arrived settlers wit.hout charge, and when this is done the cost 

 of erection is small : the roof can be covered with bark, and the spaces 

 Between the logs plastered with clay and white-washed ; it then 

 Decomes a neat dwelling, and as warm as a stone house. 



The lands in Canada West thus opened up for settlement are capable, 

 joth as to soil and climate, of producing abundant crops of winter 

 wheat of excellent quality and full weight, and also of every other 

 description of farm produce grown in the best cultivated districts of 

 that province. 



In Australia and New Zealand, licences and leases are granted for 

 arge tracts of land for pasturage purposes, at very low rents, as to 

 which the holders have certain restricted rights of pre-emption if 

 required for purposes of cultivation, and subject to the right of being 

 aken by the government if wanted for public purposes. 



In all the colonies the rights of the crown in regard to minerals are 

 ireserved; but in most cases leases are granted on payment of a 

 certain rate per cent, on the produce. In Australia, licences to mine 

 and dig for gold on crown lands are granted at the rate of 10s. per 

 nonth for each individual licence, payable iu advance ; or in case of a 

 ease being granted of a certain portion of land, at a rate of 3 per cent, 

 on the gross value of the gold procured from crown lands, and of half 

 :hat amount on gold obtained from private lands. A " miner's right " 

 icence to search and dig for gold is obtainable on payment in advance 

 of II. per annum. " Storekeepers' licences " at the " Diggings " are also 



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